Primal Journal - Patrick (who has a filthy pirate hooker mouth) page 11

[geostump]

What's this Ale stuff? That aint Primal vittles. Where's the wine? Gimme a LARGE glass of Merlot...in place of the beer (as we call it down here in the lower 50). Or several.

Seriously, I used to be a beer drinker but have migrated away from it over the years. Still, on a 113F (thats ...44C for you Canadians) day here in the steamy hot American South....a cold beer is heaven. Especially while riding on my lawn mower mowing my 2 acres of yard! In fact, I should have one on the left beer holder and one on the right. The trick is to get through them quick enough so they dont get warm before consumption....

As long as it isn't skunk beer, you're alright. I will still chose a good ale over wine anyday.

[Patrick]

What's this Ale stuff? That aint Primal vittles. Where's the wine? Gimme a LARGE glass of Merlot...in place of the beer (as we call it down here in the lower 50). Or several.

I like red wine, especially in the winter (and with meals), but I will never ever give up beer. Ever. You'd have to pry it from my fucking cold zombie hands, and even if you do and manage to destroy my pissed off reanimated beer-needy corpse, I will haunt your ass until the Rapture. Do not touch my beer or hell will seem a cheery place in comparison to the horrors I will visit upon thee.

I'm too old for t-shirts with words. Not too sure if 35 is too old for tees with phrases but I think it is. The joys of impending middle age.

I freakin' hope not. I love my ThunderCats, Order of the Stick, Autobots, Decepticons, gaming, etc., t-shirts! I ain't givin' 'em up until they turn to rags hanging from my shoulders.

[nachobrawler]

I like red wine, especially in the winter (and with meals), but I will never ever give up beer. Ever. You'd have to pry it from my fucking cold zombie hands, and even if you do and manage to destroy my pissed off reanimated beer-needy corpse, I will haunt your ass until the Rapture. Do not touch my beer or hell will seem a cheery place by comparison to the horrors I will visit upon thee.


I freakin' hope not. I love my ThunderCats, Order of the Stick, Autobots, Decepticons, gaming, etc., t-shirts! I ain't givin' 'em up until they turn to rags hanging from my shoulders.

No, nobody's prying anything from anyone's hands. Beer, Wine, or otherwise. We all need our releases. And if there was possibly one good thing that came from the agricultural revolution that gave us grain thousands of years ago it was when some idiot....er genius...allowed his/her mixed grain harvest to go bad and ferment for just the right amount of time....

And today we have beer...er, Ale. And its a good thing. And we like it!

[Patrick]

(Yeah, the "you" of my above post was a general "you" and not "you" as in nachobrawler. Ought to have made that a bit more clear! Hope you didn't take it to heart.)

[nachobrawler]

(Yeah, the "you" of my above post was a general "you" and not "you" as in nachobrawler. Ought to have made that a bit more clear! Hope you didn't take it to heart.)

Nah...I got what you meant. No harm, no foul.

So, how cold is it up there in the land of the maple leaf? Oh...and that reminds me...you are Canadian so is it pretty safe for me to assume you are a hockey fan? If so, who's your team?

[Coconut Girl]

I like red wine, especially in the winter (and with meals), but I will never ever give up beer. Ever. You'd have to pry it from my fucking cold zombie hands, and even if you do and manage to destroy my pissed off reanimated beer-needy corpse, I will haunt your ass until the Rapture. Do not touch my beer or hell will seem a cheery place by comparison to the horrors I will visit upon thee.

haha LOVE IT!!! i miss beer... and sometimes wine... considering i used to hate beer, i find this ironic... fahhh... Hinano Tahiti and Guinness! damned it!!! lol i love that shit... pry it from my fucking cold zombie hands... !!!

[Kris C]

Geo, I am 38 and still have some Ts with words. I have found that as we get healthier and lean out, we look younger and so can get away with it. Plus, I have my dad's genes and just happen to look younger. I totally take advantage while I can! My fave shirt is a gray one with the words Sleep Deprived that I would wear when out with the kids. I once had a shirt that said in big letters Boob Flasher, then smaller (almost too small) Nursing Mom. That was a fun one! But yeah, fewer and fewer slogan shirts.

[Patrick]

So, how cold is it up there in the land of the maple leaf? Oh...and that reminds me...you are Canadian so is it pretty safe for me to assume you are a hockey fan? If so, who's your team?

Well, it snowed like crazy yesterday morning... and then melted completely by the evening. It's hovering between 5 and -3 Celsius these days. Looking forward to the teens so I can get out and do some outdoor test-runs (pun intended) with my VFFs.

No, I don't watch hockey. I make up for this deficiency of Canadiana by compensating with my unnatural love of beer. And toques. (Okay, maybe just beer.)

haha LOVE IT!!! i miss beer... and sometimes wine... considering i used to hate beer, i find this ironic... fahhh... Hinano Tahiti and Guinness! damned it!!! lol i love that shit... pry it from my fucking cold zombie hands... !!!

Have you given it up completely? If so, good for you! Alcohol is my one Primal kryptonite.

[geostump]

Geo, I am 38 and still have some Ts with words. I have found that as we get healthier and lean out, we look younger and so can get away with it. Plus, I have my dad's genes and just happen to look younger. I totally take advantage while I can! My fave shirt is a gray one with the words Sleep Deprived that I would wear when out with the kids. I once had a shirt that said in big letters Boob Flasher, then smaller (almost too small) Nursing Mom. That was a fun one! But yeah, fewer and fewer slogan shirts.

I may be weird but I never got into slogan tees. The funniest one I ever saw said "my wife is hot" she wasn't lol. The one plus I have is that I still get carded for smokes and alcohol at 35. Most people think I'm 23 when they initially meet me. I like my rocker tees but that's it.

[Patrick]

Punishment. This is something I've been meaning to talk about re: Primal/Paleo/anything diet or lifestyle altering.

I was thinking this morning (and first morning of healthful awakening in a week, though I think I was just exhausted) that we let a lot slide when it comes to others, but very little when it comes to ourselves: dieters berate themselves for a small slip, artists summarily destroy incredible works because they dislike them at a glance, fitness folks worry about whether that one missed workout will haunt them for weeks to come, writers will delete sections (or entire works) because they feel "off" that day, etc.

I'm not exactly sure how to stop that cycle, or if we even want to. On the one hand, it's fucking retarded in that it can, literally, retard us: It slows us down; it kneecaps us; and, worse, it can cause us to falter as we strive to move forward. And yet where would we be without our elevated sense of self-expectation?

Quite simply, we don't expect the world of others because we can't control them. We expect the world (and more) of ourselves because we mistakenly think -- nay, believe fully! -- that we can control ourselves and every peripheral element that touches or impacts us. It's so ingrained in us that it can cause such things as eating disorders, high blood pressure and cardiac issues (caused self-perpetuated pressures), sleeping disorders, sexual dysfunction, and the list goes on ad nauseum (which is another one: we can become so overwhelmed that we can feel or become ill and vomit).

I think illusion might be the bridle of control. No one is ever really in much control of anything, but thinking we are makes all the difference. Look at all the studies done re: prayer and placebos as they affect the ill or dying. It's a fucking self-created Jedi Mind-trick!

In a sense, what we believe tends to come to pass because we believe it will (and because we ignore setbacks as they relate to strong beliefs), which is why a healthy attitude goes a long way when it comes to dieting and exercise. Fuck cortisol. I'm not talking about hormonal/bio-physical anything. I'm talking about allowing ourselves the freedom to fuck up but continue onwards unaffected by said fuck-up because we've come to a place in our lives where we believe (honestly believe) that we're able to do what it is we set out to do.

Quite simply: If you don't think you can, then you can't. If you tie your leg to a boulder as the search-and-rescue chopper comes in, don't fucking bemoan the fact you can't be saved. If you think you're worthless (or parts or aspects of you are), you need to deal with that first. Get rid of the boulder, then call for the chopper. Doing otherwise will just ruin for you the activity that could alter your life for the better, whether it be going Primal or painting with oils.

Hmmm... re-reading that, you know where I said illusion is the bridle (i.e., the means to) control? I think that's wrong. Well, not wrong. But it's certainly not something to aspire to. Most people would agree with the following: "it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied." (John Stewart Mill)

Okay, so I don't know how to mainline control and bypass ignorance/illusion except possibly through experiencing successes wrought of perseverance in the face of our own self-doubt and self-hate. Maybe the only way to gain full control, and to be happy when we don't have control, is to push onwards to our goals even when (only when) we think we're too worthless to do so.

A big part of doing that is allowing yourself small victories. If you only aim for the final goal, you'll falter and die along the way. Allow yourself to exult in the little gains that, together as a sum, constitute the full or long-term goal. It's not "I'm going to lose 30 pounds." You can't do that in one go, so thinking that way has already resulted in a personal failure because you can't fucking do it (because human beings suck at understanding time and lapses of time). It should be more of a two-parter "I'm going to lose 30 pounds; but today, I'm going to walk for 45 minutes and not eat that candy my bloody coworker gave me." In other words, benchmark that fucker into the ground, setting as many little markers as you need to enjoy little gains as you progress.

A final goal is a huge fuck-off mountain you can't lift, but benchmarks are rocks you can easily pick up and casually toss out of your way (and feel good about).

Okay, now I'm just fucking rambling. Time to hit up my Level 4 Day 2.